Email slip reveals student's bank details

Alex Mavrodiev, 30, was sending a message to the university's finance office about his accommodation deposit when he made the mistake.

The system did not stop the email being sent and his bank name, account number and sort code were delivered to the whole mailing list.

The advanced software engineering student was inundated with replies to the email from people saying they had received his personal information.

He said: "I was offered help immediately from university staff, especially concerning any issues I might have with the bank. They acted immediately, stopped the email from circulating, and the issue was rectified.

"Apparently now replying to that mailing list address will not send out emails to its entire membership.

"As far as I was informed, the bank account details I distributed could only be used to make deposits into my account, and nothing else."

The university had experienced technical problems with refunding some accommodation damage deposits and sent a courtesy email to all cardholders affected to tell them it was

looking into the matter as a priority.

"A response to this email was not required nor requested," a University of Sheffield spokesman said. "The email was distributed using a group mailing list, which allows messages to be sent to a defined group of people, without email addresses being visible."

In future the finance department will aim to distribute similar group emails with extra privacy settings.

Mr Mavrodiev's bank account has been closed.